Excavating apparatus



June 3, 1952 c. E. BANNlsTER EXCAVATING APPARATUS 2 SHEETS- SHEET l Filed Dec. 30, 1947 June 3, 1952 c. E. BANNlsTER 2,599,042

EXCAVATING APPARATUS Filed Dec. :50, 1947 z'sHEETs-#SHEET 2 FIG. 2

IN VEN TOR.

CLYDE E. BANNISTER 20M/aw ATTORNEY Patented June 3, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE EXCAVATING APPARATUS Clyde E, Bannister, Houston, Tex.

Application December 30, 1947, Serial No. 794,597

4 Claims.

This invention relates to tunneling or excavating machines.

Its chief objects are to provide a machine having advantages of both mechanical and hydraulic excavation; to provide a unitary self-contained and preferably self-propelling machine adapted to perform both of the functions of excavating and of disposing of the excavated material; to provide economy of construction, operation and maintenance; and to provide for rapid excavation and ease of operation.

Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing is a longitudinal middle section, but with some parts shown in elevation, of a machine embodying my invention in its preferred form.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of a scoop-shaped earth-screening member which is a part of the machine, with diagrammatic representation the bits ahead of it.

The machine comprises a frame II) equipped at each side with sprocket-like supporting wheels such as the wheels II, I2 and I3, the wheels at side being provided with a link-type self-laying track such as the track I4.

Mounted upon the frame are a high-pressure reciprocating pump I5 and a centrifugal pump I6 adapted to be driven through suitable drive connections, including a reduction gear Il for the reciprocating pump, by an electric motor I8 fed by wires I9, I9 running to it from a remote source such as the mouth of a tunnel being excavated.

The pairs of end wheels II and I3 are loosely journaled whereas the axle I2a of the middle pair of wheels, I2, has drive connection from the mosecuring the two wheels I2 selectively to the axle, for steering or turning the machine, or both of them for straight driving.

A water-supply hose 22 extends from a remote source, beyond the mouth of a tunnel, for example, to the suction side of the pump I5, and a conveyor hose 23, for disposing of excavated material, leads in the opposite direction from the delivery side of the pump I6.

For mechanically and hydraulically breaking up the ,earth formation a gang of oscillating bits 24, 24, of any suitable size and number and in any suitable pattern, are mounted upon the shafts of respective duid-actuated motors 25, 25, which preferably are of the shaft-oscillating type, because I have found that an oscillating bit is 2 more effective than a rotating bit. The motors are mounted in fixed relative positions lupon the laterally extensive head of a large, hollow, fluid conducting shaft 26.

The large hollow shaft 26 is connected for reception of high pressure water from the pump I5 through a hose 21 and at its other end is provided with pipes, such as the pipes 28, provided with respective control valves, for conducting motive-iiuid to the respective motors. y

The motors are of the type in which the exhaust water is discharged through their oscillating shafts andthrough the bits, so that the Water assists the cutting action of the bits and washes down and further disintegrates the dislodged material. Preferably the motors are of the type described and claimed in my U. S. Patent No. 2,254,641.

To provide for turning of the large shaft 25 on its own axis to change the rotative position of the gang of motor-and-bit assemblies, the shaft extendsv through and is rotatable in the two arms 29, 30 of an upwardly forked plunger 3l of a hydraulic lift, of which the cylinder 32 is pivotally mounted at its lower end on a transverse shaft 33 fixed in the frame. The middle part of the cylinder 32 is connected with the frame by a turn-buckle link 34 for holding the gang of bits in different angular positions and at different elevations, and they are adapted to be raised and lowered without change of attitude by means of the hydraulic lift, which is adapted to be actuatedl by pressure fluid conducted through a hose 35 leading from the high-pressure hose 2l and havingy a three-way control valve 36.

For holding the large :duid-conducting and motor-supporting shaft 26 in different rotative positions about its own longitudinal axis, as for securing a square-pattern set Vof bits with a side of the square pattern in a vertical plane or, alternatively, with a diagonal of the square pattern in a vertical plane, so that a corner bit of the pattern bein-g of a salient of the pattern, will be.

lower than the others, the shaft has mounted thereon, between fork-arms 29a, 29h of the forkarm 29, a turning arm 31 having a plate-like hub from which studs such as the stud 38 project into respective longitudinal grooves such as the groove 39 formed in the opposite sides of the shaft. A locking bolt IllA is threaded through the forkarm 29a and has a reduced end portion adapted to enter, selectively, spaced holes in the plate 31, for locking the gang of bits in different attitudes.

The slots 39 permit axial movement of the shaft and its bits While their attitude is thus maintained, and for maintaining a yielding cutting y pressure upon the bits the shaft 26 at a position between the fork arms 29, 30 is externally formed with a radial ange 4l serving as a piston in coaction with a cylinder 42 which is fixed to the fork-arm 30 and provided at its ends with inletoutlet pipes 43, 44 connected through respective hoses 43a, 44a with a four-way control valve 45 for supplying pressure fluid from the high-pressure hose-2T.

Below the gang of bits, in position to catch earth materialdislodged by the bits, is an inclined scoop or pan 46 which at its rear end is pivoted to the frame at 41, on an axis transversetoithief assembly. At a position farther forward the scoop is adjustably connected, by a; pairof'links, such as the link 48, with respective' platea sucln as the plate 49a having a series of holes 49', Y49 for supporting the scoop in differently inclinedL positions.

By'setting the gangr of bitsin notatlize position about the longitudinailg axis; of the: shaziit 26 that a corner bit of'tl'iev setv-is'llowerr than others, as above described, andasshowninlilig; 2 the floor of the tunnelor the=lilabeing excavated can be formed with= a relatively low middlaipori tion or sumptrench 50, and the pan i151 soaformedi, with adownwardlyv bayed middle zone'v 46m. that its front edge at' least' ap;Jroxiinately-r conforms to a floor so formed?.A Y

Atleast a part of the: floor of thescoop; such as the middle downwardly' bayed portion 4621/i is formed7 wit-hf a multiplicity or' holesg so*t thatA haust Water from the motors; falling upon: earth material upon the scoop, will washt the nner-par"- ticles through the'hol'e'sl into theL sump trench 5U; and disintegrate'` larger particles-so i'hatfthey5 also will be washed through. Y Y y For disposing' of the earth material. thus; passing through the'lscoop; the-scoop has secured to its under face a suction pipe 5T having its suction mouth in the sump trenchv and having other end connected by a hosel 52' with the intake: side of the pump i6, which thus adaptedl toA impelthe Wastewater and earth materiali thrcuzghx the hose 23g toa remote place, beyond themouthof a tunnel, for example. n

To retain the Water in the vicinity ofthe suc-f tion nozzle the sump trench can' be temporarily or permanently llecl, back! of the scoop; with? l earth material 53".

Themodeofoperation, for ciearness, has been described in conjunction with'- thedescription of A power means on` the'-- vehicle. for actuating the bit means. and means on the vehicle for deliver-- ing water to the. earth material being. operated' upon by the bit means, the bit means comprising a gang of bits, a mounting common to the bits, and means for so supporting the mounting that it can be xedly held selectively in different rotative positions about a vertical aXis, about a horizontal axis transverse to the vehicle, about an axis extending fore-and-aft of the vehicle, and at different elevations, in relation to the vehicle.

2.. Anexcavating machinacomprising a vehicle adapted for horizontal trai/eL, a supportadjustably mounted on said vehicle for movement of its front end both vertically and horizontally along the face of earth material tobe excavated, a; gang. of.' bits and respective water-actuated motorstherefor mounted on the front end of said support fonoperation of Said bits upon said face, the matura hei-ng constructed and arranged to deliver their exhaust water to the material being cut by their lrespective bits, a pump mounted on said vehicle for supplying water under pressure for' actuating the saiolfy motors, another pump mounted on said vehicle for pumping away the mixture of wateisand` cuttings resulting from the operationof' sa-i'cl bits; prime mov-er' power means mounted orf said! vehicle *for actuating said pumps; a' conduit leadingA from a remote position for-supp'lymgwaten tolthe-frst'said pump, and a conduit'v leading from the secondi said pump to a remoteposition! for conducting thesa-id mixture.

3. A machine as defined. claim 2 in which the gang of bits are arranged inapattern having asalientpositionable for'cutti'ng iin the floor of the excavation a sump` trench of l'ess width than the then existinghorizontal cutting span of the gang of bits.

4L. A machine as defined claim 2 in which a screen-ing pan; i'smounted on the recited vehicle in position' to have deposited upon it byV gravity the recited mixture ofA exhaust water and cuttings.

CLYDE? E; BANNISTER.

The following references` are of` record in the filev of this patent:

UNLTED- STATES PATENTS 

